wait
Americanverb (used without object)
-
waits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
waited,
past participle, past
-
waiting
present participle
-
to remain inactive or in a state of repose, as until something expected happens (often followed by for, till, oruntil ).
to wait for the bus to arrive.
-
(of things) to be available or in readiness.
A letter is waiting for you.
-
to remain neglected for a time.
a matter that can wait.
-
to postpone or delay something or to be postponed or delayed.
We waited a week and then bought the house. Your vacation will have to wait until next month.
-
to look forward to eagerly.
I'm just waiting for the day somebody knocks him down.
verb (used with object)
-
waits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
waited,
past participle, past
-
waiting
present participle
-
to continue in expectation of; await.
I sat nervously on the bench, waiting my turn to audition.
-
to postpone or delay in expectation.
Don't wait supper for me.
-
Archaic. (of things) to be in readiness for; be reserved for; await.
Glory waits thee.
-
Archaic. to attend upon or escort, especially as a sign of respect.
noun
-
waits
plural
-
an act or instance of waiting or awaiting; delay; halt.
a wait at the border.
-
a period or interval of waiting.
There will be a long wait between trains.
-
Theater.
-
the time between two acts, scenes, or the like.
-
-
British.
-
waits, (formerly) a band of musicians employed by a city or town to play music in parades, for official functions, etc.
-
a street musician, especially a singer.
-
one of a band of carolers.
-
a piece sung by carolers, especially a Christmas carol.
-
-
Obsolete. a watchman.
verb phrase
-
wait up
-
to postpone going to bed to await someone's arrival.
-
Informal. to halt and wait for another to join one, as in running or walking.
Wait up, I can't walk so fast.
-
-
wait on
-
to perform the duties of an attendant or servant for.
-
to supply the wants of a person, as serving a meal or serving a customer in a store.
-
to call upon or visit (a person, especially a superior).
to wait on Her Majesty at the palace.
-
Falconry. (of a hawk) to soar over ground until prey appears.
-
Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. to wait for (a person); await.
-
Also wait upon. to await (an event).
-
idioms
-
lie in wait, to wait in ambush.
The army lay in wait in the forest.
-
wait table. table.
verb
-
to stay in one place or remain inactive in expectation (of something); hold oneself in readiness (for something)
-
to delay temporarily or be temporarily delayed
that work can wait
-
(of things) to be in store (for a person)
success waits for you in your new job
-
(intr) to act as a waiter or waitress
noun
-
the act or an instance of waiting
-
a period of waiting
-
rare (plural) a band of musicians who go around the streets, esp at Christmas, singing and playing carols
-
an interlude or interval between two acts or scenes in a play, etc
-
to prepare an ambush (for someone)
Usage
Sometimes considered objectionable in standard usage, the idiom wait on meaning “to wait for, to await (a person)” is largely confined to speech or written representations of speech. It is most common in the Midland and Southern United States: Let's not wait on Rachel, she's always late. Wait on or upon (an event) does not have a regional pattern and occurs in a wide variety of contexts: We will wait on (or upon ) his answer and make our decision then. The completion of the merger waits upon news of a drop in interest rates.
Synonym Usage
Wait, tarry imply pausing to linger and thereby putting off further activity until later. Wait usually implies staying for a limited time and for a definite purpose, that is, for something expected: to wait for a train. Tarry is a somewhat archaic word for wait, but it suggests lingering, perhaps aimlessly delaying, or pausing (briefly) in a journey: to tarry on the way home; to tarry overnight at an inn.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
waitsimple
-
waitssimple
-
have waitedperfect
-
has waitedperfect
-
am waitingprogressive
-
are waitingprogressive
-
is waitingprogressive
-
have been waitingperfect progressive
-
has been waitingperfect progressive
Past
-
waitedsimple
-
had waitedperfect
-
was waitingprogressive
-
were waitingprogressive
-
had been waitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wait
First recorded in 1150–1200; early Middle English verb waiten, from Anglo-French waitier; Old French guaitier, from Germanic; cognate with Old High German wahtēn “to watch,” derivative of wahta ”a watch” ( see wake 1)
Explanation
A wait is the time it takes for something to happen. The wait to get the brand new computer was four hours long, but it was worth it. The word wait originated in the 1200s, from the Old Northern French word waitier: "to watch with hostile intent." Even back then, people didn't like to wait. Anticipating something that will happen is waiting, though sometimes what you wait for never comes — like Godot, who never shows up in the play "Waiting for Godot." When you wait to do something, you delay. When you wait tables, you serve people, preferably without delay.
Vocabulary lists containing wait
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He met Sonja Haraldsen, the daughter of a businessman, at a party, but the crown prince had to wait nine years before he was allowed to marry her.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
"Please be patient and wait for an official announcement," it said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
If I don’t want to wait in line, I’ll head to Dayglow in Silver Lake where some of my favorite baristas are generous enough to let me try whatever new concoction they’re experimenting with.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
After adjusting for various risk factors, the study found that patients with private insurance faced the shortest wait times, and those on Medicaid experienced the longest—even longer than the uninsured.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
I wait until he’s completely out of sight and call Rue.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
That happened a few times before the summer recess, including in a crucial vote on an extra £300m in spending to reduce NHS waits and expand childcare.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
The supervisors who authored the motion, Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer, say that lengthy waits at the border are the responsibility of the federal government.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Flight delays, interminable waits on the tarmac—Booking.com CEO Glenn Fogel knows all about travel frustrations firsthand: “You can’t believe you even bothered.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Alexis Milan waits with his blind 17-year-old son for the sun to disappear behind the horizon of Central Havana, so they can head to the roof.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
He waits by the door until I crawl back into my pod before leaving.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
He could have easily waited another season to find out whether Goff would reach the next level.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
I waited for what felt like my entire life to see Dollywood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
McGinty, a pharmacy student at Queen's University Belfast, said her mum, who has sciatica, had been in a lot of pain while they waited for several hours following delays at the airport.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
At a police checkpoint, relatives and friends of those affected waited for permission to enter the affected area, bringing supplies or offering assistance.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
I’m not sure how long Elliot and I sat there, lost in our own thoughts as we waited for a professor to begin the class, before I realized that we were the only ones waiting.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
“My mom was waiting up for me because she was nervous about me driving home at 2 a.m. from a shoot,” he recalls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
But Snead decided that the time for waiting was over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
They handle money, study their customers and discover, sometimes surprisingly early, that they are capable of moving through the world without waiting for someone else to tell them exactly how.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
An inquest heard how three emergency calls were made when David Mann fell ill during a lesson, but ambulances were stuck outside hospitals waiting to hand over patients.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
“I do not feel her waiting for you in the Afterlife.”
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
